Visa integrates blockchain-based credit into expanding stablecoin card operations
The payment giant merges VisaNet settlement information with onchain lending infrastructure amid a nearly 200% year-over-year surge in stablecoin transaction activity across its platform.
Global payments leader Visa is bridging its traditional settlement infrastructure with blockchain-based lending solutions, providing stablecoin-connected card programs with additional pathways to obtain working capital. This development could potentially broaden the scope of onchain lending beyond cryptocurrency markets and into mainstream payment settlement operations.
In an announcement made on Tuesday, the company revealed plans to integrate settlement information from VisaNet with blockchain-powered lending platforms, creating opportunities for lenders to fund payment commitments using information derived from the Visa ecosystem. This new framework permits lenders to leverage Visa settlement data in conjunction with onchain transaction information to evaluate borrowers and provide financing for their settlement requirements.
The company spotlighted Credit Coop, an onchain protocol that provides credit facilities to commercial entities, as an initial implementation of this approach. Since 2023, Credit Coop has provided financing for over $2.5 billion in aggregate settlement volume through participating lending facilities, encompassing more than 3,000 individual borrowing transactions and 9,000 loan repayments.
According to Rubail Birwadker, Visa's global head of growth products and partnerships, stablecoins are "changing how money moves" and generating new possibilities to reimagine the financial infrastructure that underpins payment systems.
This development arrives amid significant growth in Visa's stablecoin-connected payment operations. The network now supports more than 160 card programs linked to stablecoins, experiencing payment volume growth of nearly 200% compared to the previous year. Additionally, Visa reported that its stablecoin settlement activity has exceeded a $20 billion annualized run rate, representing more than a 15-fold increase from levels recorded a year earlier.
Visa deepens its stablecoin push
The company has positioned stablecoins as an increasingly central component of its payments approach, with executive leadership indicating during the fiscal third-quarter earnings call in July that Visa is "investing in each layer of the stablecoin stack," encompassing blockchains, wallets, infrastructure and applications.
This strategic focus includes the company's participation in the OpenStandard consortium, an initiative planning to launch the OpenUSD stablecoin with involvement from Stripe and more than 140 other participating organizations.
Visa's strategic expansion unfolds as stablecoin usage continues its upward trajectory. Adjusted transaction volume for stablecoins hit an all-time high of $1.79 trillion in June, while activity measured over the most recent 30-day period totals approximately $1.2 trillion, based on data from Visa's analytics dashboard.
